Shadow Cast By The Wind (1)

With its deep-rooted history, the Pung Empire was full of legends and folklore that traveled between villages, making the journey far from dull.

"Hey. Believe it or not, 200 years ago, a nine-tailed fox used to live right here!"

"Uh... Sure."

Anella wore an exasperated expression and tried to ignore the man at the next table, who was enthusiastically spitting as he talked.

"This outlander kid doesn't believe a word we say, huh. Haha!"

"Well, that's how it is! No one believed me for 28 years when I said I fought a two-headed wolf when I was a kid. It was such a headache!"

"That's because it's a lie!"

As the men continued their noisy conversation, Anella quickly got up and left the restaurant.

Cold sweat trickled down her back, melting away in the cool breeze of the Pung Empire.

"Phew. This is nice..."

The fresh air definitely had a way of lifting one's spirits. The men back in the restaurant were harmless—sure, they liked to exaggerate, but their real intent was to share the famous local legends and customs with outsiders.

They weren't bad people.

Good people, good culture.

A happy country...

'Meanwhile, my country was destroyed.'

"Ugh. Positive thoughts!"

Anella quietly slipped into the shadows, carefully scanning her surroundings. She was trying to remain unnoticed, but her efforts weren't really working.

With the sun shining so brightly, hiding in the shade didn't make her any less visible.

In fact, the sight of a young girl tiptoeing around like a cat only drew more attention.

"Hm? Student, are you lost? Is this your first time here?"

"Ah! No! I have a map!"

With her twin braids and the uniform from Sevelon Kingdom's magic academy, Anella looked no older than a middle-schooler.

Perhaps because of her young appearance, the kind-hearted people of the Pung Empire couldn't help but be curious about her.

But as a dark mage infiltrating the Pung Empire, this attention wasn't welcome.

There had even been recent reports that Elthman Elwin had nearly completed a magical technique to detect the mana waves of dark magic, so she couldn't rely on her disguise indefinitely.

'Besides, I've been caught a few times already.'

Even her ability to suppress dark magic—sealing it so perfectly that no ordinary mage could detect it—had failed against certain individuals at Stella.

Flame and Baek Yu-Seol. They were very special kids, different from the rest.

Even though she had survived thanks to their goodwill, it could also be said that she had narrowly escaped death.

'But really, what am I supposed to be doing here?'

Her latest mission was absurdly vague: head to the capital, Taeyusan, in the Pung Empire and search for traces left by the Witch King.

That was it.

While the task was clear enough, there were no hints or directions on how to go about it.

What was she supposed to do with so little to go on?

Though she would prefer not to run into the Witch King, spending a week here without accomplishing anything could really get her killed this time. So she had to do something, anything.

'... But what?'

She felt utterly lost.

With no other option, Anella wandered around famous tourist spots. It wasn't like she was leisurely enjoying sightseeing—after all, she could drop dead any minute if her heart exploded.

She was just desperate to do something to keep herself from going mad with anxiety.

Taeyusan, Pung Empire.

The Sea Dragon Shrine.

At the river where the Sea Dragon, who was known to have eight legs and three tails, was said to have ascended, a shrine had been built to honor the creature.

Everywhere you looked, there were sea dragon-themed souvenirs, and the massive sea dragon statue towering over thirty floors tall was only the beginning.

Anella pretended to browse the items with indifferent eyes, but her mind was elsewhere.

'Who buys stuff like this...?'

The prices made her jaw drop—each item cost at least 30,000 credits, an amount that could cover three meals. As a poor dark mage, such luxuries were out of the question.

"Hey there, young lady. Here for some sightseeing? Why not buy a talisman?"

As she absentmindedly looked at the merchandise, an old man waved a talisman at her.

"A talisman?"

"That's right. Just 5,000 credits. You can buy yourself some good luck for 5,000 credits."

"Come on... Who'd believe something like that?"

Anella was an adult—40 years old, to be exact. She might look like a child, but she wasn't going to fall for such gimmicks.

"Haha... You don't understand, do you? Sure, maybe there's no power in this talisman as you say. But what matters is the belief. By carrying this talisman, you carry the belief that you can be happy, that you can succeed."

"And what good is that kind of belief?"

"In this world, there's nothing you can achieve without belief. This talisman helps you store that belief, so you can draw on it whenever you need it. It helps you believe."

"Huh…"

So, the talisman supposedly allows you to believe in your ability to succeed by storing your belief in it.

It sounded strange, but at the same time, somewhat convincing.

Normally, Anella would have dismissed it as nonsense, but right now, she was like a raft drifting on the open sea—she needed to believe in something, anything.

"I'll buy it."

"I also have something that adds extra belief to your belief. Want to take a look?"

And just like that, 68,000 credits were gone in an instant.

With her hands full of talismans and fake sacred relics, Anella sighed deeply.

"Stupid..."

If things could really be solved with these kinds of trinkets, why would people even bother working hard?

Still, since she had already bought them, she couldn't just throw them away.

As she was about to put the talismans into her bag, her eyes landed on something else—an old talisman Baek Yu-Seol had given her a while ago.

"... This is a talisman too."

In the world of mages, talismans were quite foreign.

After all, talismans were more like sorcery than magic. Sorcery had fallen out of use long ago because it was considered far less efficient than magic, but she'd heard that some still practiced it in secret.

Unlike magic, which was based on precise calculations, sorcery was said to rely on faith and belief. It all sounded rather odd to her.

"What could this one even be used for...?"

Her gaze shifted back to the old talisman vendor. Since she had already bought a bunch of talismans from him, maybe he wouldn't mind answering a question.

"Excuse me, sir."

"Hmm? Looking to buy more? No refunds, though."

"No, it's not that. I actually have a talisman I've had for a while. Is it also one of those, you know, 'belief talismans'?"

"A talisman, you say? Let me take a look."

When Anella handed over the old, torn talisman given by Baek Yu-Seol, the old man's eyes widened.

"Hmm? This is…"

"Do you know what it is?"

Despite her question, the old man furrowed his brow and studied the talisman for a long time. He took out a magnifying glass from his drawer and stared at it even more closely.

"This… This is an ancient 'Pung Spell Script' from over 300 years ago."

"Pung Spell Script?"

"Yes. It's a type of sorcery unique to the Pung Empire, similar to the Rune Language that you mages base your magic on. I thought the tradition had died out long ago... How fascinating. And it seems like a very powerful spell was cast on this… Young lady, where did you get this?"

"Oh, just… Somewhere."

"Regardless, this talisman is extremely valuable. Take good care of it. It may hold some mysterious power."

As Anella took the talisman back, she looked at it with newfound vigor. This old, torn piece of paper.

Until now, it had seemed far too insignificant to put any real faith in.

She had started to doubt whether Baek Yu-Seol's words were true, or if believing in this would actually help her become human.

'... It's real.'

He hadn't lied to her.

"Then... Is there any way to use it or interpret it?"

"Hmm. You'd need to find a traditional shaman to interpret this. I have no idea myself."

"I see."

It was disappointing, but she couldn't do much about it.

Shaman's bloodlines had mostly died out, and it wasn't likely that an old man selling cheap talismans on the street could decode something like this.

Wait a second.

If this old man couldn't interpret the talisman, then didn't that mean all the talismans he'd sold her were fake?

Just as Anella felt a surge of anger and was about to say something, the old man spoke first.

"Oh, that's right. I heard there's a young shaman in town. They say she's properly inherited the traditions of sorcery. If you want, you could go look for her."

"A young shaman…?"

"Yes. They say she's around your age and quite skilled. I heard she can sometimes be seen along Castle Road."

"And what's her name?"

"No one knows her name. Since she wears a mask, few have actually seen her. That might make it easier to find her though. There aren't many young shamans wearing masks."

"Hmm. Thank you…"

Anella bowed her head in gratitude to the old man and walked down the street. She was absentmindedly holding the talisman.

Finding the Witch was important, but she was also desperate to uncover the secrets of this talisman as soon as possible.

'A young shaman girl… Can I really find her? I hope so.'

As she clutched the talisman tightly, she heard murmurs and the sound of a crowd gathering nearby.

"What's going on?"

Focusing her dark magic senses, she saw that several mages in black suits were blocking the people, holding them back.

Beyond them, she could see a grand and ornate carriage, adorned with a crest—the distinct green mark of the 'Starcloud Trading Company.'

Anella's eyes widened at the sight.

Only the chairman of the Starcloud Trading Company and his daughter were allowed to use that crest.

'Has the Starcloud chairperson come here in person...?'

The Starcloud Trading Company, the true power behind the southern plains and practically the lifeblood of the Pung Empire.

"That's quite something."

"Yeah. Can you believe it? Just because one merchant shows up, even the Seven Houses of the Wind are coming to greet them…"

"If they don't show proper respect to the Starcloud, they'll be punished when the succession ceremony comes around. They don't have a choice but to bow and scrape."

"And it's not even the chairman himself. It's just his daughter."

"Neither the chairman nor his daughter likes to come to Taeyusan unless it's something serious."

"There must be something big going on. No doubt about it."

"Seriously? They own 30% of Taeyusan's property and hardly ever show up here? They must be doing pretty well."

"Of course, it's Starcloud after all."

So it was the daughter of the Starcloud Trading Company, Jeliel, who had come to Taeyusan.

The fact that a girl not even twenty years old could cause such a stir spoke volumes about the influence she wielded.

'That's impressive…'

Anella couldn't help but feel a sense of awe, thinking of how Jeliel lived in a world completely different from her own.

She caught a glimpse of Jeliel's profile in the distance—her cold, emotionless demeanor appeared even more detached than Anella's as a dark mage.

'Sigh. Why am I even paying attention to this?'

It was not like she would ever cross paths with her.

Shaking her head, Anella quickly turned and ran toward the castle, putting the thought out of her mind.